Back in October, longtime Marilyn Manson guitarist Twiggy Ramirez was dismissed from the band after having been accused of rape by ex-girlfriend Jessicka Addams of Jack Off Jill. Since then, both parties have been pretty silent on the issue until now. Manson recently spoke to Kerrang! about firing Ramirez, revealing there was more to his departure beyond the rape accusations.

Manson implied that musically his chemistry with Ramirez hadn't held up as well as it did in the past, but despite this his personal relationship has remained strong despite the firing.

"I did not divorce Twiggy as a friend or brother, because I still care about him greatly. But I can't say that my musical relationship with Twiggy has been good for several years. My relationship with Tyler Bates on [2015's] The Pale Emperor made something open up in me and I didn’t want to let negative energy back in my life," said Manson.

He continued, "There were other people in my life that I thought were my friends that I had to cut out this year, a lot of betrayals that surprised me, and I had to clean house and adopt and new attitude. People mistook my kindness and generosity for weakness. So I kinda adapted this attitude, like, 'If you fuck with me, there will be consequences.' I have issues with intimacy. That might sound weird given that we're lying in bed together, but y'know..."

Since the introduction of Bates to Marilyn Manson, Ramirez's contributions to the band have been greatly diminished. Looking at the technical credits for both The Pale Emperor and Heaven Upside Down, Ramirez does not have any writing or instrumental credits on either album, and his role was purely live.